ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Zurich International Airport was the scene of much excitement Monday, based on a fictional hijacking of an Airbus 320 with 91 passengers and 6 crew members on board. “Libero 13” was an emergency exercise staged to see how well airport officials, cantonal police, special police forces and the airline (in this case Swiss) work together in an emergency.
The actors played their roles for several hours. At 11:00 the airplane was stormed and the fictional hostage-takers were subdued.
Federal Aviation authorities requires airports to carry out such exercises once every two years.